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Moon: Epps serves hot meals daily to homeless

Troy Moon, tmoon@pnj.com
Published 11:22 a.m. CT April 22, 2015

Be more than a friend of a friend to the homeless

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The Rev. Sylvia Tisdale has been feeding the poor and hungry through the Epps Christian Center, five days a week for nearly six years, and only stops closes her kitchen two-times a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas.(Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)Buy Photo

For me, everything relates to music. (Take any of my senses, but not my hearing.)

So, on the way to work this morning, I was thinking of some of the awesome people I know in town and a song popped in my head by "roque" band The Upper Crust, a bunch of snooty dudes in powdered wigs and period dress singing about privilege and such. (Typical songs include "Rock & Roll Butler," "Little Rickshaw Boy,'' "I've Got My Ascot 'n My Dickie" and "Once More Into the Breeches.")

But the song that got me thinking was the Upper Crust's "Friend of A Friend of the Working Class":

Sorry Pastor Sylvia Tisdale that the song has the "A" word in it... But it did make me think of you and the work you do for our community.

Because five days a week, Tisdale, pastor and founder of Epps Christian Center on Pace Boulevard, wakes with the roosters to feed the homeless and hungry among us. Since April 2006, Tisdale has been serving a hot and free breakfast from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. to all who show up. They serve over 1,000 meals each month and operate a food pantry that gives out more than 3,000 pounds of food each month.

On Saturday, Epps Christian Center will hold its annual Homeless Awareness Day, not at Tisdale's church on Pace Boulevard, but at Asbury Place at Cokesbury Church at 5725 N. 9th Avenue. Tisdale usually serves meals to folks in the county. But Tisdale's pal, Pensacola City Council member Sherri F. Myers, is working with her to help bring homeless services and awareness to folks in the city as well, hence the event being held at Cokesbury.

Saturday's event — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — will offer free home cooked meals, haircuts, clothes and more. Thomas Rebman, CEO of Homeless and Hungry, LLC., is the guest speaker. (A few years back, I was honored to be a speaker at the event, even though I'm a mere friend of a friend of the homeless. Like most of us, I do little myself other than hand a dollar or two out the car window to folks when I have a little money. I'm glad there are people like Tisdale — and Myers — in town to counter the inactivity of the rest of us.)

I'm going to say it. I love Sylvia Tisdale. I love her heart, her commitment, her energy and her compassion. And I'm glad to count her as a friend. Hers is a small, small church with a few dozen members and little money. Yet there she is, every morning when I'm asleep, feeding hot meals to the hungry and less fortunate.

If you would like to donate items for the Saturday giveaway, they can be dropped off at Epps Christian Center, 2202 N. Pace Blvd, or at Cokesbury Church on the day of the event. Needed: canned goods, non-perishable items, clothes and monetary donations.